Pasta with broccolini pesto and roasted peppers

Certain foods have a very special meaning for me: it might be something my mom cooked when I was a kid that takes me back in time, something I cooked for someone I love or something I ate at a special place. I first ate pasta with pesto sauce in Rome, and it was also the first time I ever traveled abroad, many years ago, so it holds a very dear place in my heart.

I make pesto quite regularly at home, for my husband have learned to enjoy it as well, and sometimes I switch the basil for other options, such as arugula, for example. This time basil was replaced by a mixture of broccolini and fresh oregano leaves, with a fiery touch of dried pepper flakes and a bit of sweetness from roasted peppers – a wonderful combination of flavors is the work of the man behind the best gnocchi I have ever made. To make things ever better, this is really easy to put together, and you can even roast the peppers in advance and keep them refrigerated in a bowl or glass jar with some olive oil to avoid them from drying out.

Pasta with broccolini pesto and roasted peppers
slightly adapted from the always delicious Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food

2 small red peppers
olive oil to drizzle over the peppers
200g broccolini florets
½ cup (120ml) extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts
1 fat garlic clove, minced
½ cup grated parmesan
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g long dried pasta – I used fusilli lunghi

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°C. Line a baking sheet with foil, brush it with olive oil and place the peppers onto the foil cut side down. Drizzle with olive oil and roast for 30 minutes or until skins are blistering. Remove peppers from baking sheet and place in a large bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside for 20 minutes. Remove the skins from the peppers and cut them into thin slices. Set aside.

Pesto: bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil – you’ll cook the broccolini and the pasta using the same water. Blanch the broccolini the boiling water for about 30 seconds, then remove them using a slotted spoon and place in ice water to stop them from cooking (keep the water boiling too cook the pasta). Use your hands to squeeze out as much excess water from the broccolini as possible and transfer to a blender. Add the olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, red pepper flakes, oregano and blitz to a paste. Season with salt and pepper and blitz again. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water if pesto is too thick.

Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Toss pasta with pesto, adding some of the water if necessary to loosen the sauce. Stir in the roasted pepper and serve at once.

Serves 4

Baked sausages with tomatoes, peppers and onions, a movie, many tears and a wish

The subject of traveling in time has produced a handful of movies, some interesting, some hideous. Last night I watched another movie about it, by far the most beautiful one: a movie that made me cry like a baby (there were so many tears I had to dry them on my cardigan sleeve), that made me think of many things in life and that made me wish I could, too, go back in time.

I kept thinking of how incredible it would be to go back to my past and started imagining my mother and I in our kitchen – with the table where I used to do my homework while she did the dishes after lunch – and pictured us both cooking: I was chopping some onions, she was grilling a steak. And the funny thing is that in my head I wasn’t a kid: I was a 35-year-old adult, as I am today, standing next to her, who looked like she did when I was five. And another funny thing is that I don’t know why I thought of her grilling a steak since I hated it as a child – I usually ate my steak stone cold after seating on the table for hours, forbidden to leave as long as there was food on my plate. :)

Because Richard Curtis made me think of my mom a lot more than I already do every day, I decided to share this delicious recipe with you today: as a good German descendant, she loved pork (and cabbage – boy, she just loved the stuff) and I am sure she would go crazy for sausages cooked this way – the meat portions get golden and crispy on the outside, while tender and juicy within, and the thyme adds a wonderful touch.

Baked sausages with tomatoes, peppers and onions
from Bill Granger’s TV show “Bill’s Notting Hill Kitchen”

2 onions, peeled, halved, and each half cut into 4 pieces
1 large red pepper, seeds removed, cut into chunks
6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
200g cherry tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 sausages
5-6 fresh thyme sprigs
handful black olives

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Place the onions, pepper, garlic and tomatoes in a medium roasting pan or ovenproof dish, drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix to coat. Remove the sausage from their skins in portions (about the size of a meatball) and place over the vegetables. Scatter with the thyme sprigs, drizzle with a little more oil and bake for about 1 hour, turning the sausage halfway through cooking time so the pieces are golden all over. Remove from the oven, scatter with the black olives and serve.

Serves 2 generously

Chilli con carne meatballs, a.k.a. the day my husband ate cilantro

I thought it would take another trip to China to turn my husband into a foodie, but apparently we didn’t have to go that far: New York City did the trick. :)

After tasting several things for the first time at the great places we had lunch/dinner in the city that never sleeps he was convinced that yes, there is so much delicious food out there just waiting to be discovered, and yes, my suggestions are worth trying. :D

Back from vacation I suggested these meatballs for lunch and then patiently waited for the request to swap the cilantro for parsley - much to my surprise, it never came and the hubby brought home the bunch of herb himself. :D

This recipe comes from "Jamie's 15-Minute Meals", and since I don’t time myself around the kitchen I have no idea how long it took me to cook this meal (I served the meatballs with rice), but I can guarantee it was fast.

Chilli con carne meatballs
slightly adapted from the delicious Jamie's 15-Minute Meals (I bought mine here)

400g lean beef mince
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
a few drops of Tabasco
1 heaping teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon table salt (or to taste)
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
3 jarred red peppers
½ small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove (for the sauce)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
700g passata
pinch of sugar
handful fresh cilantro + some extra leaves to serve
1 x 400g can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used 200g pinto beans I had cooked previously)
4 tablespoons fat-free natural yogurt
1 lime

In a medium bowl, combine the beef, two cloves of garlic, Tabasco, garam masala, salt and pepper and mix with your hands. Divide the mixture into 4, then with wet hands quickly shape each piece into 4 balls. Heat a frying pan over high heat, add a splash of olive oil, then place the meatballs in the pan, tossing regularly until they’re nicely browned.
Using a blender, blitz the peppers, onion, the other garlic clove, paprika, passata, sugar, cilantro and a good pinch of salt and pepper until smooth. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan, place it over medium-high heat and stir occasionally. When the meatballs are nicely golden, add them to the sauce, cover partially and cook over medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes or until sauce is thicker and meatballs are cooked through. Add the beans to the empty frying pan and cook them for 2-3 minutes over high heat. Remove from the heat, then stir into the sauce (I preferred to serve them separately). Check the seasoning.
Serve sprinkled with cilantro leaves, the yogurt and a spritz of lime juice.

There was a lot of tomato sauce left when we finished eating the meatballs (I served them with rice); I kept it in the fridge and served over some pasta on the following day (the sauce tasted even better after one night in the fridge).

Serves 4